Exclusive! The Train Crash Near New Jersey Station

HOBOKEN, N.J. — More than 100 people were injured, many critically, when a commuter train slammed into a rail station Thursday, NJ Transit officials said.

Local media were reporting that three people died in the crash.

Photos from the scene show a damaged New Jersey Transit rail car inside the battered station amid mangled steel, cables and concrete. The crash occurred at about 8:30 a.m. ET at the Lackawana Station off of Hudson Place.

Chris Mann, 34, said he was less than 100 feet from the train when it derailed, sounding “like an explosion.”

“By the time I turned around and registered the train was coming, it had already completely crossed to the pedestrian walkway,” Mann said. “It all seemed to be very fast.”

Moments later he saw passengers climbing out from the train’s windows.

“People were crying and one woman … was bleeding but a lot of people were still filing in unaware,” Man said. “The first responders were here very fast.”

All PATH service at the Hoboken station was suspended, and passengers are advised to use NJ Transit Light Rail, according to a tweet from the agency. NJ Transit suspended service in and out of Hoboken due to the accident, and said its buses and private carriers are cross-honoring tickets and passes.

“Obviously this is an ongoing investigation,” said Jennifer Nelson, director of media relations for NJ Transit. She said the cause of the crash had not been determined.

“It simply did not stop,” WFAN anchor John Minko, who witnessed the crash, told 1010 WINS. He said the train crashed through barriers and into a reception area in the above-ground station.

“Hoboken Terminal: After earlier incident at NJT’s Hoboken Station, no service into/out of PATH’s Hoboken Station,” PATH tweeted. NJ Transit buses and private bus carriers are honoring all train tickets. About 15,000 people board trains every weekday at Hoboken station, according to NJ Transit.

Steve Mesiano, a passenger in the train’s second car, tells MSNBC the train was “going a little faster than it seemed it should have been going” as it pulled into the station.

“All of a sudden, there was just an impact, all the lights went out,” Mesiano told the network. He said the first car jumped up onto the platform and it was hard to tell if the injured were passengers or people outside on the platform.